ASSESSMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES IN COMMUNITY-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDIES

Assessing occupational exposures in community-based studies is a chall enge for investigators because there are no standardized or validated approaches for collecting information regarding occupational history. The strengths and limitations of the methods available for assessing o ccupational exposures are reviewed. In community-based case-control st udies, the prevalence of most chemical agents is low. The common sourc es of misclassification in these studies are addressed, as are strateg ies for dealing with misclassification bias. Methods to assess the pre sence and magnitude of differential reporting by cases and controls ar e outlined, together with analytic strategies to improve the classific ation of occupational exposures.